Japan’s Dimension closes second VC fund on $75m

LPs include Japan Investment Corporation (JIC), Carta Holdings, Growin’ Partners, Loyalty Marketing, and SMBC Nikko Securities. The fund was launched in May last year with a target of JPY 10bn.

Dimension was set up in 2019 as an investment arm of business development advisory Dream Incubator and invests across internet, digital transformation, and deep tech from the seed to pre-IPO stages in Japan.

The firm's first fund closed on JPY 5bn that year with support from Mizuho Bank, Daiko Advertising, Akatsuki Corp, and SMRJ, a government agency for small businesses.

Fund II will invest across technology domains, excluding biotech, with capacity to target MBO and corporate carve-outs from listed companies, according to a statement. Post-investment support will leverage a partnership with ScienBiziP, a technology patent management services provider that is a subsidiary of Sharp Corporation.

Dimension has backed 24 companies to date. Key exits include virtual reality player Cover Corporation, which completed a JPY 9.3bn IPO last March, and Susmed, a healthcare software provider that raised JPY 3.6bn in a December 2021 IPO.

The standout investee is lawyer-focused artificial intelligence provider LegalOn Technologies, which expanded into the US last year following a JPY 13.7bn Series D round featuring Goldman Sachs, Mizuho Capital, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Sequoia Capital China, World Innovation Lab (WiL), and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital.

LegalOn’s US foray signals a growing ambition among Japanese start-ups and VC firms in recent years to pursue cross-border strategies. Dream Incubator has reflected this trend since at least 2016, when it set up a Indian joint venture with Mumbai-based Blume Ventures.

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• Topics
• North Asia
• Technology
• Fundraising
• Venture
• Japan
• Japan Investment Corporation (JIC)